Understand
by Aka Wouka
Summary: There are some things the Straw Hats will never understand about each other.    Rated T for swear words, because I wanted to keep certain people in character.
1. Zoro

Hiya! This is is gonna be a series of ficlet thingamajigies (I never know what to call the short ones) from the point of view of each of the crewmates, and how they view the ones who came before them. With everyone else, it's going to be about the bond/relationship between the ones who came before them, but the only one who was before Zoro was Luffy, and all Luffy has is his hat... maybe I should've written it about that. *ponders* Yeah, that would've been better for what I'm trying to do, but I like this one. Maybe I'll rework it and put it up as another chapter.

Roronoa Zoro would never fully understand.

Yeah, Luffy wanted to be the Pirate King. He got that. Luffy was Luffy—he was GOING to be the next Pirate King, and that was all there was to it. It didn't matter what got in his way, or who he faced, or what happened. He was going to do it.

Zoro understood that much, at least.

What he _couldn't_ understand was how his idiot captain had managed to survive before they had met. The swordsman had been forced to rescue the rubber man from drowning _three times_ that morning, and judging by the sun, it wasn't even noon yet.

The first time was kind of his fault. Sort of. Actually, it was all Luffy's fault—how could the idiot have not _seen_ him even _before_ his mad dash across the boat? It wasn't even that big!

Fortunately, Zoro had been close enough to catch him as he was falling over the side. Neither of them even got wet.

The second time was for a bird they had seen flying overhead. Of course Luffy had wanted to eat it, but at the last second the creature had managed to dodge his "Pistol." The surprise had set Luffy off balance, and into the water he went.

This time, Zoro had to lunge to prevent him from becoming literal seafood, and although he managed to keep himself dry, Luffy didn't fare as well.

The third time was probably the most moronic. Luffy decided to go fishing with his bare hands, and, well, let's just say that Zoro had to do some fishing of his own if he didn't want to see his new captain sink like a stone.

Come to think of it, two out of three of those incidents involved Luffy's obsession with food—another thing Zoro couldn't understand. Yeah, food was great and all, but with Luffy you'd think it was just as important as air. A true warrior could go over a month without eating!

His stomach rumbled. Ok—so yeah, food may not be as important as air, but it's still pretty damn important.

Settling down to sleep, he decided to just let it go. Thinking required consciousness, and at the moment, all his thoughts were being directed to his aching belly. Sleep would make him forget, if only for a while.

Besides—there were some things that some people just couldn't understand.

~Omake~

He was awakened by a crash and a yell. Why was his captain so loud, dammit? He was trying to get some sleep here!

I actually have another chapter (if you can call it that-none of these are more than a page) written, but... it just feels wrong to post two at a time, somehow. Maybe it's from visiting and ... (both of which are quite a bit smaller than this site, but usually have better quality fanfics because of moderation requirements, just fyi.) At any rate, I just wanted to get this out there. Please tell me if you like it! I read, enjoy, and treasure every review, favorite, and hit, even if it's years after I've posted the fic itself. ^_^


	2. Nami

Finally! I actually meant to upload this the day after I submitted the first chapter, but we had a snow week. Hey, it's Texas and the roads iced over. Also, I'm very sorry about the notifications some of you got. I forgot you had to upload a document before you could submit it as a chapter. *facepalm* Aren't I smartical.

Also, this is dedicated to mittarimato, since they were the only person to actually review. I dearly enjoy seeing that you've added this story to your favorites, but could you tell me why, please? Criticism is also welcomed with open arms, and flames will be used to keep myself warm. ^_^

Oh yeah, I've been forgetting, but if you really think I own One Piece you're a bloomin' moron. I'm sorry, but it's true. My writing is nothing like his.

Nami would never understand.

She was smart, yes, and she probably understood more than the others ever could. But there was just something about the bond between Luffy and Zoro that would always be beyond her.

Maybe it was because he was the very first crewman. Maybe it was because they'd had time to get to know each other before anyone else even showed up. Maybe it was because they hadn't had anybody else to talk to other than each other in those early days, or maybe it was because being in a small boat in close proximity to another person naturally led to an intimate familiarity with that person's unique traits.

Whatever the case, there was something between the two that would never be matched by the other crewmembers.

It wasn't that Luffy didn't love everyone equally, without reserve, as was his wont. No, he valued his nakama more than anything. If he hadn't proved that by now, after risking everything time and again for friend after friend, well… if there ever was a person who doubted his loyalty to his nakama, then they'd never heard anything about the strawhat at all.

And yet… the swordsman and the captain were so in tune, so flawlessly in sync, that even being chained together did little to hinder them.

There was a _reason_ they had such faith in each other. In those first days, they each had only one other person to rely on. Working together wasn't just convenient; their very lives had _depended _on it. They knew each other almost better than they knew themselves, and because of that, there was never any doubt. No questions were asked, no doubts were entertained. It was never a question of _if_ the other could survive, _if_ the other could defeat their opponent. It was a question of when.

They knew each other's capabilities, and they had faith that they weren't going to die before they reached their goals.

And that was something that Nami would never understand.


	3. Ussop

Blech. I really don't like this one. I just can't get a grasp on Ussop, nad Sanji's even harder for me to write. (Guess who's next.) It's just GYAAHHHHH! He seems so out of character! *wilts*

But I tried to get down the lying and storytelling aspects of Ussop, which is why this one rambles, as well as the human awspect, which actually wasn't very hard.

And now I hafta do Sanji. GYYYEEEEAAARRRGH. I just...he... he's a suave thoughtful cook who randomly spazzes over women and I can't figure out how to record his thoughts and include Nami in them and keep him in character!

And now I'll stop ranting before this becomes a mini story.

Usopp would never understand, not really.

It wasn't that he wasn't smart—nonononono! Most certainly _not_! He was Usopp, the brave warrior of the seas, inventor and storyteller extraordinaire! His marksmanship was the best on the Grand Line! If it weren't for him, why, the Strawhats would all be dead! He was brave and smart and intelligent! All the girls just loved him, and-

And what the hell was _up_ with these monsters anyway? You'd think they didn't even know the _meaning_ of danger! It was only through his marvelous cunning that he'd even managed to _survive_ so far!

Nami was like him, though. Nami was the only other person on the ship who was actually normal, so they sorta had a special bond, y'know? A "We're in this together because everyone else is a monster" type thing.

But man, even that couldn't compare to the absolute trust he saw her place in Luffy and Zoro. Yeah, she yelled at them for being idiots all the time and there was something about Zoro owing he money, but when big, scary bad guys came to kill everybody, she trusted them so totally and completely that for the longest time, she didn't even bother to fight for herself!

It was really rather amazing when you thought about it. Back when she was still trying to save her town from Arlong, she wanted to do everything else. When they offered to help her, she even got mad and turned them all away!

But something must've happened between her and Luffy, cuz after that, although he was her idiot captain, he was still her captain.

With Zoro, it was a bit harder to define. Maybe cuz he was the first mate? He and Luffy _were_ pretty close—even when they were fighting, they were so in sync it was crazy! But with Nami…

Maybe it was cuz they had fun together? That sounds kinda weird… but y'know, even when Nami was hounding Zoro about paying her back and Zoro was telling her how she was going to hell, it was really more of a friendly banter than a _real_ fight, cuz Zoro had that angry shouting demeanor where you make a lot of noise so people know you're mad about something but you don't really mean it enough to actually hurt the person you're shouting at, and Nami was always smiling and laughing and cheerfully dismissing it cuz she knew he would never actually hurt her.

So maybe she trusted them cuz she knew they were strong enough to beat the crap out of anyone that tried to harm her, and cuz she didn't really hafta watch her back around them cuz they wouldn't intentionally do anything to hurt her.

But there was more to it than that. Nami was a person who used people for her own gain, and she'd done that to them before, but this was different. Cuz if she was just using them, she would've been long gone by now.

Maybe it was something about the way they threw themselves into danger without a thought for life or limb, simply to save another person. But then, they did that for all the new crewmembers…

Well, Luffy did at least. Zoro was always just kind of along for the ride.

Ah, well. Some things were just too incomprehensible for even _his_ highly intelligent brain. Now, he needed to get to working on his inventions—he had to work _hard_ if he wanted to keep up with these monsters!

On the bright side, my chapters are getting a bit longer...


	4. Sanji

Sanji would never understand.

How the _hell_ had those shitty bastards managed to convince Nami to sail with them in the first place? Those idiots had no class!

Not that he wasn't grateful—he was ever so grateful to have been granted the chance to meet his beautiful Nami~swan!—but those guys were so rude! They had no table manners, they didn't respect her wishes _or_ privacy, they had **no idea** how to treat a lady and they… were oddly persuasive in convincing new people to join their crew.

Huh. He'd forgotten about that.

Ok, so the better question was, how had the wonderful Nami~swan ever managed to _survive_ without him? Handling those brutes by herself must have been utterly _exhausting_ for his beautiful damsel…

Who was mostly able to take care of herself, especially among the crew, and seemed to have a special bond with the others before him—_especially_ Luffy and Zoro.

_**HOW?**_

Nami~swan was a lady! She deserved to be pampered and catered to and worshipped and those idiots acted like she was just another member of the crew! _Why_ was she close to them? What did they have that he didn't? He was only human! Surely that gave them a bond similar to one to she had with Usopp, right? RIGHT? He was a human just like she was! He didn't have any devil fruit powers or ANYTHING!

Granted, he could kick through walls, but…

Okay, why was she close to _**Zoro?**_ He had no _idea_ how to treat a lady! He had even KNOCKED HER DOWN! He called her a witch! 

~curly~

"Ne, Usopp, did you hear something?"

"What? No. Now, Luffy, please leave before you damage one of my inventions. They're very fragile, y'know! HEY! I SAID DON'T TOUCH THAT!"

CRASH

"Sorry!"

"GET OUT!"

~cook~

Maybe it was because they'd spent more time together…if that was the case, he would spend as much time around Nami as possible!

Never mind that she didn't seem to like him—that was simply incentive to try harder!

With a grin, he set about making some delicious sweets for his delicious crewmate.

~eyebrows~

Nami sighed inwardly as she saw Sanji approach, tray in hand and hearts in eyes.

The sweets were nice, but really…

The poor boy would never understand.


End file.
